Reclamation of all disturbed areas shall be accomplished in the following manner:

(1) The vegetative cover must be diverse, effective, and permanent. It must be capable of long-term stabilization of the soil and must not impede natural vegetative succession or interfere with surrounding vegetative cover;
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 60-1-703

  • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
  • Operator: means any person who owns or is directly responsible for a business involved in some phase of the production, manufacture, refining or distribution of petroleum oil or natural gas. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
  • Owner: means the person who has the right to drill into and to produce from any pool, and to appropriate the production for such person or others. See Tennessee Code 60-1-101
  • Road: includes public bridges and may be held equivalent to the words "county way" "county road" or "state road". See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(2) The permanent reclamation plant species must be capable of self-regeneration and must have the same seasonal characteristics of growth as the original vegetation. A different plant species not having these characteristics may be used to establish a quick-growing, temporary cover to stabilize the disturbed area;
(3) Suitable mulch and soil nutrients shall be applied where necessary to stabilize a regraded area and to establish the vegetative cover;
(4) Except for active work areas, a temporary vegetative cover shall be planted on all disturbed areas within thirty (30) days of the initial disturbance;
(5) Within thirty (30) days of the plugging of a well, the permanent vegetative cover shall be planted on all disturbed areas;
(6) Access roads are subject to all the above reclamation requirements unless the landowner establishes by sworn affidavit that a road will continue to be used for other legitimate purposes and maintained in usable condition, which condition reduces erosion to a practical minimum, by the surface owner. An access road may continue to be used by the operator to gain access to the well site in order to determine the adequacy of the vegetation cover or to perform additional revegetation;
(7) Revegetation success shall not be determined until after two (2) successfully completed growing seasons have occurred; and
(8) Revegetation shall be considered successful if a ground cover of at least ninety percent (90%) herbaceous and/or woody species is achieved, so long as at least eighty percent (80%) are perennial species.
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